232 THE CACTACEAE. 



Krook, Handb. Cact. 57; Rev. Hort. Beige 40: after 186; Descourtilz, Fl. Med. Antilles 

 ed. 2. 7: pi. 515, as Cactier rouge; Diet. Gard. Nicholson 2: 347. f. 539, as Melocactus 

 communis; Remark, Kakteenfreund 18, as pertinato. 



Figure 241 shows a barren plant and figure 242 flowering plants, both sent from Turk's 

 Island, British West Indies, through the courtesy of the Director of the New York Aquarium, 

 July 1 916; figure 243 shows a single flowering plant from Mona Island, off Porto Rico, photo- 

 graphed by Frank E. Lutz in 1914; the other smaller plant is the snowy cactus. 



10. Cactus harlowii Britton and Rose, Torreya 12: 16. 191 2. 



Melocactus harlowii Vaupel, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 22: 66. 1912. 



Plants usually solitary, light green, rather slender, 2.5 dm. high; ribs 12, narrow; areoles closely 

 set, usually less than 1 cm. apart; radial spines about 12, slender, slightly spreading, 1 to 2 cm. long, 

 reddish, becoming straw-colored in age; central spines usually 4, similar to the radial, but usually a 

 little stouter and longer; cephalium small; flowers small, 2 cm. long, deep rose-red; fruit deep red, 

 obovoid, 2 cm. long ; seeds black, shining. 



Type locality: Coastal cliffs, Guantanamo Bay, Oriente, Cuba. 



Distribution: Eastern Cuba. 



This seems to be the only species of this genus in Cuba, although Melocactus havan- 

 nensis was based upon a plant from Cuba, now supposed, however, to have been a garden 

 plant. In the Sauvalle Herbarium there is, however, a fragment of a plant so named but 

 its exact locality we do not know. 



The plant is locally abundant on coastal cliffs from Point Maysi to Guantanamo and 

 grows also on river cliffs near Ensenada de Mora, farther west. Dr. Felipe Garcia Cafii- 

 zares, Director of the Havana Botanical Garden, has sent us fine photographs of the plant 

 from Point Maysi. It was recorded by Grisebach and by Sauvalle as Melocactus com- 

 munis: its Cuban name is cardon. 



The specific name was given in honor of Captain Charles Henry Harlow, U. S. N., 

 Commandant of the Guantanamo Naval Station at the time Dr. Britton studied the flora 

 of that reservation in 1909. 



Illustration: Canizares, Jardin Bot. Inst. Habana 61. 



Of plate xxiv, figure 2 shows a fruiting plant and figure 3 shows the crown of the plant 

 in flower and fruit, all from the type collection. 



11. Cactus amoenus Hoffmannsegg, Preiss. Verz. ed. 7. 22. 1833. 



Melocactus amoenus Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 43. 1S37. 



Simple, 2 dm. high; ribs 10 to 15, 2 cm. high; radial spines 9, spreading, more or less curved, 2 cm. 

 long or less; central spine solitary, 2.5 cm. long or less; cephalium 7 to 8 cm. broad, 2 to 3 cm. high; 

 flowers small, red. 



Type locality: Colombia. 



Distribution: Coast of northern Colombia. 



We are referring here plants collected on the low dry hills near Santa Marta, Colombia. 

 We have seen the following specimens: H. H. Smith, 1898 (No. 2611), Sinclair, 1914, 

 H. M. Curran, 1916 (No. 358) and Penned, 1918. 



Melocactus communis joerdensii Otto (Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 43. 1837) and M. communis 

 joerdensis (Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 425. 1885) are only names. If this variety comes 

 from Venezuela as Rumpler suggested the name would be referred to Cactus cacsius. 



12. Cactus obtusipetalus (Lemaire). 



Melocactus obtusipetalus Lemaire, Cact. Aliq. Nov. 11. 1838. 

 Melocactus crassicostatus Lemaire, Cact. Aliq. Nov. 13. 1838. 

 Melocactus obtusipetalus crassicostatus Lemaire in Miquel, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 18: Suppl. 1. 136. 1841. 



